Well, thank heavens THAT is over. That would be the SOTU, of course. And we only have to listen to ONE MORE from Obama. Assuming one actually listened to him, that is. As you know, I had other more important things to do. Ahem.

[…] That’s what middle-class economics is — the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don’t just want everyone to share in America’s success — we want everyone to contribute to our success. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Hey, I’m all for everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – doing their fair share to make this country successful. But by the taxes Obama laid out that he wants, that is not at ALL what he means. He means some people should continue to do more, PAY more, than others, and increase the entitlements to others. How about we get off that Entitlement Train and people get back to working hard for themselves, and for the country. How about that?

And one of the taxes he has proposed that has gotten FAR too little notice is the one on College Savings Plans, the 529 programs. This one just burns me up. He goes blathering on at great length about helping out the Middle Class, the one hit hardest by his policies. And then he slips this little tax into his Big Plans. From Americans for Tax Reform laid it out (h/t Katie Pavlich at Townhall):

[…] 4. Tax Increase on Families Saving for College

Under current law, 529 plans work like Roth IRAs: you put money in, and the money grows tax-free for college. Distributions are tax-free provided they are to pay for college.

Under the Obama plan, earnings growth in a 529 plan would no longer be tax-free. Instead, earnings would face taxation upon withdrawal, even if the withdrawal is to pay for college. This was the law prior to 2001. […] (Click here to read the other disturbing areas in which Obama wants to tax us.)

Now, just WHO do you think are the people putting money INTO these 529 plans?? Forbes answers that question(via TheCollegefix):

The levy in question would increase taxes on college savings accounts known as “529 plans” (after their section in the Internal Revenue Code). By definition, these accounts are really only used by middle class families. Poorer households don’t have the extra income to save (and even if they have a little, there are much higher priorities like retirement or saving for a home). Very wealthy families might use 529 plans, but it’s far more likely that they have complex trust arrangements set up for their children.

According to the Investment Company Institute (the trade association for the mutual fund industry), there was $245 billion accumulated in 529 plans in 2014. With just south of 12 million accounts open, that means there’s an average balance of about $21,000 in these plans. This is not a mechanism for rich Democrats like the Kennedys or the Gates to shelter wealth.

… there it is buried on page 9 of the leaked document: “The President’s plan will roll back expanded tax cuts for 529 education savings plans that were enacted in 2001 for new contributions…” Note that this is right before they also announce the repeal of Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (Coverdell ESAs), another similar move against the same middle class savings targets. […] (Click here to read the rest of the Forbes piece.)

Uh, yeah, really helping out the middle class there, Obama. Just like the promise of “free” community College educations. Guess what – THERE ARE NO FREE PROGRAMS. Every “free” thing comes with a cost, and WE are the ones paying for those costs. So if Community Colleges are free for two years, that means that people who are already paying for their children’s education will be paying for someone ELSE’S educations, as well. Heck, ALL of us will be paying for their educations. I am sorry, but beyond paying for public school educations, people should be responsible for paying for their OWN educations.

And along the lines of this whole “wealth redistribution” thing Obama seems so keen on, I wish the singer James Blunt would write him a letter on our behalf similar to one he wrote an MP in England (h/t Daily Caller). From the Guardian:

You classist gimp. I happened to go to a boarding school. No one helped me at boarding school to get into the music business. I bought my first guitar with money I saved from holiday jobs (sandwich packing!). I was taught the only four chords I know by a friend. No one at school had ANY knowledge or contacts in the music business, and I was expected to become a soldier or a lawyer or perhaps a stockbroker. So alien was it, that people laughed at the idea of me going into the music business, and certainly no one was of any use.

[…]

And then you come along, looking for votes, telling working class people that posh people like me don’t deserve it, and that we must redress the balance. But it is your populist, envy-based, vote-hunting ideas which make our country crap, far more than me and my shit songs, and my plummy accent.

I got signed in America, where they don’t give a stuff about, or even understand what you mean by me and “my ilk”, you prejudiced wazzock, and I worked my arse off. What you teach is the politics of jealousy. Rather than celebrating success and figuring out how we can all exploit it further as the Americans do, you instead talk about how we can hobble that success and “level the playing field”. Perhaps what you’ve failed to realise is that the only head-start my school gave me in the music business, where the VAST majority of people are NOT from boarding school, is to tell me that I should aim high. Perhaps it protected me from your kind of narrow-minded, self-defeating, lead-us-to-a-dead-end, remove-the-‘G’-from-‘GB’ thinking, which is to look at others’ success and say, “it’s not fair.”
[…] (Click here to read the rest.)

AMEN to that. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Which leads me to the need for “a hand up.” I will leave it to Senator Tim Scott to finish out this post with his response to the SOTU:

“A hand up, not a hand out” as Sen. Scott said, is how we should be moving forward. THAT is what the United States of America has always been about, don’t you think?

I saw this orange light in the sky. A police officer told me what to look for . He looked on his computer and told me it had not gone off yet. I talked to him after the scheduled life off time. It was neat to see. I do not live close enough to see the liftoff from the ground but I did see the rocket when it was in the sky

Yeah, when s one of the talking heads said, there were EIGHTY MORE REPUBLICANS in that chamber than the first time he gave his SOTU Address. Chris Wallace said he was pretty sure that was a quip “Obama had in his pocket,” or words to that effect, expecting some kind of response.

You are right – Congress is equal. And apparently it is NOT a breach of protocol (and since WHEN does the Obama Administration give a damn abt protocol?!?! Oh, wait – when it suits them).

As Charles Krauthammer said tonight on “Special Report,? what was a breach of protocol was having the PM of the UK calling Senators and lobbying them abt not strengthening sanctions on Iran. NO KIDDING. I thought that was pretty weird from the get-go. As Charles highlighted, the WH announced this with great pleasure, so they really don’t have squat to say now.

Secretary of State Kerry says US has a ‘bare minimum’ of diplomatic
presence in Yemen and is watching the situation ‘extremely closely’;
Kerry says he’s heading to White House for a meeting on Yemen – @margbrennan

Photo: President Obama lands in Boise, Idaho, to begin 2-day post-State of the Union tour – @dsupervilleap
see original on twitter.com